Sweet Hour of Prayer

Hymns that were sung when I was a child were often slow and laborious - downright boring.  Of course they were.  To a child whose greatest concern in life is not to upset his parents anything slow or peaceful is tedious.  As an adult, slow times are a respite from the world.  A moment of meditative reflection can be a delicious comfort.  

One of those hymns that was tedious as a child is exceptionally comforting to me as an adult.  "Sweet Hour of Prayer" was written and composed by W.W. Walford and William B. Bradbury.  It speaks of the beauty of prayer in light of those burdens of life.  

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,

That calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father's throne,

Make all my wants and wishes known;

In seasons of distress and grief

My soul has often found relief,

And oft escaped the tempter's snare,

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.  

There are lessons in this verse if I would but listen to them.  With song, we instruct one another and there are valuable lessons to be relished here.  Is it a literal hour or a general time for prayer?  Both would be wonderful in practice.  I wish it called me from the world - to my discredit, it is often my last resort instead of a calling.  God calls, even commands for us to cast our cares upon Him.  But when I do yield to it, what sweet relief.  And again, if I resorted to prayer more frequently, it would be an effective escape from temptation, for the human will is often found lacking and prayer effectively bolsters our resolve.

Even the pose itself offers relief.  The bowed head and bent knees suggest honor for God and the spirit is lead to honor.  The hands clasp together in hope, clench more tightly with the intensity of the petition and open with the intent of the offering.  A body bowed in reverence guides the spirit to hand over the will in recognition of His power.  Altogether, the offering is tactile, spiritual and mental and one is left with a sense of relief.  The burden shifts, even if slightly.  The human will submitted to a Greater Will then feels that someone else is in control - it's not all on me or up to me.  The prostrate man can rise anew and refreshed.  What a sweet hour!

A meditative state away from the cares of our condition.  What a sweet, sweet escape.  

Talking Big Concepts to Little Brains

While putting my son to bed he became whiny and disrespectful to his mother because he didn't want to go to bed.  So he and I had a little talk and as we did, his mother left the room.  This is man talk.  

He must learn to control his desires and compulsions, even the strongest and most fundamental urges for security and belonging.  So he whines when he doesn't want to go to bed and be left alone in that dark room.  Suck it up, that's a necessary life lesson.  But when he becomes disrespectful and cranky to his mother because he is not getting his way, that's a whole different consideration and the root of a larger pattern of behavior that is dangerous.  But he's only three.  What large concepts can he possibly understand?  Well, he can certainly understand from my reaction and the talk that followed that his behavior was somehow unacceptable.  That suffices for now but he will grow into the concepts that I speak to him in hushed, close tones.  

"Son, you must respect and honor your mother.  You love her, don't you?"  

"Yes," comes the faint reply.  

"Then honor her.  You want Mamma to be happy, right?"  A small head nods.  

"Then respect her.  Do not behave in such a way that it is difficult on your mother."  

He needs to start to learn not be so selfish that she is pulled away from her other responsibilities.  Honor her.  Respect her.  I don't tell him all of this, but I do give repetition to the concepts of honor and respect.  

"Because the way that you treat your mother will grow into the way you view and treat other females in your life, from your teachers to your wife."  

His little brow is furrowed.  So I finish with love.  He is familiar with that word and is just beginning his understanding of that concept.  Love her.  Love her.

I know my boy's future behavior patterns are being conditioned now.  But he doesn't.  He has no clue what conditioning means, let alone loftier concepts like respect and honor.  But I still use those words.  Not to use them is a disservice to his growth and maturity.  How do I know it matters?

When I was growing up Dad would listen to talk radio in the truck.  So if I was riding with him, I was usually hearing WBAP out of Dallas.  It's signal carried over a large part of Texas during daylight hours.  Even though I disliked it then, I was becoming familiar with a few things.  The traffic reports were meaningless and boring.  I didn't live in Dallas so why in the world would I find congestion at the intersection of Belt Line and 30 intriguing in the least!?  I eventually moved to the Dallas area and found the highways to be a bit daunting, like most big cities.  But there was familiarity that I found astounding, comforting, and facilitated navigation of this area.  I already had heard of Belt Line Road.  I knew 820 existed.  Jupiter was a familiar roadway.  R. L. Thorton was old hat.  I felt I already knew these places, even having never traveled them.  That familiarity made it easy to learn and navigate. 

So when I talk to my son about loftier concepts, like respect and honor, I know he doesn't get it now, but over time he will become familiar with them.  And as I tie them into concepts he does know, they will become real and useful.  Because I say this now he will be better equipped to navigate life later.  

"Sometimes understanding can wait when obedience cannot."  - Robert Moss

Appreciation, Gratitude and Contentment

When I was in the Navy I was called to serve in Iraq. The country was virtually all desert except for some shabby orchards along the Euphrates River. The buildings were largely masonry construction with sheet metal roofs, if they had roofs at all. The cars were old and dusty and many families had none. The people were scraggly and worn, as were their clothes.

It was a war zone in which they lived. Our convys had to stay away from the sides of the roads and potholes because that's where the IEDs were. But there were so many potholes they were impossible to avoid. The roads were in such disrepair they would not pass for Farm to Market roads in my native Texas. County maintenance crews would be ashamed for those roads to be in their precincts. 

Buildings lay in ruins and no one was eager to rebuild them when life required so much energy just to survive. The smell of sewage was prevalent in some cities where infrastructure had been targeted or had long been in disrepair under the rule of a selfish despot. Heaps of smoking trash the size of 18-wheelers were a common site.

I travelled all over the huge airbase that I was assigned to maintain. It was built by Saddam and looked as those he had been given building plans from the USSR for they looked as I imagined a stark military base would have looked in the old Soviet Block. Each building was concrete, square, no ornamentation except that which the soldiers painted on the walls to break up the lack of joy. I drove for miles and miles around that perimeter road, observing the bombed out tanks and rusting hulks of aircraft scattered about the dessert. The base was some of the nicest construction anywhere around and even it was a spirit crusher.

 
Eupohoria of the Ordinary

I say all that to set you up for this. When I returned home from that bleak landscape it was a surreal experience. We flew into Shannon, Ireland at a pre-dawn hour for a short layover. It quite literally hurt my eyes to look out the plane's portholes to see the Emerald Isle - it was so green it was like looking into a bright light even without the sun being up. The stone walls neatly weaved across the countryside all in what seemed like perfect repair. The airport was modest by our standards; maybe like a municipal airport in a secondary market. But to us it was grand. It was the first polite civilization we had seen since leaving the desert. The duty-free shops sold trinkets and objects that seemed both opulent and unnecessary. 

Then we flew into New York. As we circled the City, looking down on the sprawling accomplishments of civilization with its bright glass towers and tasteful masonry work, its landmark bridges and its throng of vehicles, our chaplain had the flight crew play "They Come to America" over the PA system. That cheesy song and the sight of the Big Apple brought tears to my eyes. I wasn't yet home but still I was home. The size, grandness and wealth of the city struck me. The airport was well appointed compared to where I had been and the surly customs agents were as welcoming as a family hug.

By the time I made it back home to my wife I was almost in a state of euphoria. There would not be a puddle-jumper flight to my local airport until later in the afternoon but I had arrive in Houston midmorning. I could not wait so I spent the money on a rental car. It turned out to be a wonderful decision. I drove home through wooded areas and rolling hay pastures along Highway 6 in the Spring. The beauty of our country was enchanting. So green. So alive. Why had I not seen this before?

I pulled up to our one bedroom apartment in a 40-year-old, stucco-clad development that we had only just barely accepted because it was what we could afford for a young married couple going to college. It was magnificent. My sweet wife was standing on the porch ready to greet me. Her clothes and face were clean, bright and smooth. Her skin was not thick and weathered and she smelled sweet instead of bearing the stench of the cities in Iraq. What a remarkable contrast. I was in heaven.

For several weeks after I returned home I walked through life in a state of awe and wonder with a silly grin plastered on my face. My experience in a war zone had gifted me with an appreciation that almost certainly few other experiences could award. No longer did I have to be on guard every moment of day and night (which I had not realized I was until I no longer had to) but the wealth of our country which had previously gone unnoticed by me was not so glaringly obvious that I gazed at it in amazement. We went to a Mexican food restaurant to meet with some friends. I was so overwhelmed by all the colors, smells, soft textures, rich food, and smiling faces that I could hardly speak. Our friends could tell there was something strange about me and would inquire what was wrong. I could not put it into words then because in the midst of it I did not understand what was happening. I was truly appreciating everything we have in America.

Gratitutde is A Virtue

The Christian model teaches for a man to be content with what he has while simultaneously working hard to care for his needs and those of his family. Balance is hardwired into this model but it is all too true that the simplicity of the mind of man causes him to focus on one or the other platforms of the scale while neglecting the other. For example, selfishness (which is also a default setting in man) may cause a Christian to focus on the hard work to the exclusion of charity, which is no religion at all.

To Train Your Children:

Remind your children who are discontented with their clothes, the electronics and their house that even the poorest in our nation are wealthy on the world stage. They must appreciate their position or stand to either be discontented with such a posh life or to lose it altogether out of national apathy. It strikes me by way of observation that the default setting in man is discontentment. No matter his status, riches, or poverty, he grows accustomed to his appointment. That means that his view of material contentment starts from the baseline of his rearing, then changes over time to his adolescent years and then into adulthood. No matter how wealthy, a child can be discontented with his possessions when he is not taught to be grateful either by his parents or by life. Appreciation is something that must be earned. For the average boy, it is his own personal hardship that will achieve appreciation. For the wise boy, it may only require the observation of hardship in the lives of others to achieve it.

Help your children to appreciate their status in life. Take them to the poor side of town - every town has one. Have them intently look upon the lives that are lived in this place and the neglect this position in life renders. This happened for me at the age of 12 when my family made a trip into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.  Two lives were lived by the same people on each side of the Rio Grande.  Do not let this be a short excursion nor let your children look away. Tears of your child at this point are a precursor to gratefulness. Do not let them feel as though the poor in our nation are repressed. Explain the opportunity that is available to all of us through hard work and discipline. Explain also that it may take generations for a mindset of poverty to be overcome so that he habits of the inhabitants are toward personal industry rather than collective dejection. Explain also that poverty may be a cruel inevitability for the lame, the mentally stunted, and the uneducated. For God does not call mankind to be wealthy but to be content. Then explain the imperative of charity to aid the helpless, the necessity of education, and the virtues of industry. If your child does not immediately become contemplative look upon his own possessions with gratefulness, then either you have not spent enough time with your child in these places, you have not sufficiently explained the realities of life, or you have waited until you child is too old and calloused to be touched with the plight of his fellow man. Pray you are not too late. 

If you accomplish in guiding your child to appreciation, gratitude and humility you will have achieved one of the greatest feats attainable for a parent. For this is a sacred virtue.

The Wolf and the Hare

The wolf has said, "I have no taste for blood,"
"In fact, this has never been my way."
"By my solitude in the hill others thought I would kill,"

"I'd rather eat clover and hay."

But his fangs, they belie him and claws do protest

This notion we heard him just say.

His keen nose and ears easy attune to the fears

Of the small, the weak and the prey.

By moonlight the hare, he now freely prowls

In the woods and the hills with his pack.

He warns others "Beware! Be on watch for the hare!"

Bloodthirsty, he stalks his next snack.

But how dreadful a bunny, with soft, downy fur?

And a white fluffy tail at his back?

Buck teeth protrude, and by this is construed,

He is intended for carrots to attack.

The man was convinced his ways were too brutish.

More like a woman he should be.

Be sensitive and meeker, emotive and weaker.

"The world will be better, you see."

His traits are toward risk, to conquer and persevere,

To protect and provide for a family.

But courage and strength, no longer virtues he seeks,

Not well thought of to be manly.

The woman is then left to be the aggressor.

She is smarter, more cunning after all!

She can rear them and steer them and have a career then,

Never mind her equipment's grand call.

Let us be wise observers of ourselves and our roles,
Neither aggrandizing nor making one small.
Each station honor, our natures not squander,
Taking each post with resolve.

God, the Constitution and the Affordable Health Care Act

I was driving in to work today with the radio tuned to a local talk station.  I had awoke relatively late, ate breakfast in front of my computer at home and was now leisurely getting around to going to the office.  And then I heard the news that caused my heart to sink.  But let's back up a minute.

Today is June 28, 2012.  It's an historic day for several reasons:

• First of all, in 1914 Austria's Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, leading to the Great War (World War I).  
• In 1894 Labor Day was enacted by Congress, setting it as the first Monday in September. 
• The first Corvette rolled of the production line in Flint, Michigan. 

Of course, all of these are events that changed history and affect our lives, some more significantly than others.  Another significant event is the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, otherwise known as "Obamacare."  The vast majority of the legislation was upheld today. This battle has been waging since 2010 and will continue on into this next election season and quite possibly beyond. 

The arguments have been all over the board.  From the far left emotional pleas of "poor people need healthcare and rich Republicans just want to keep them down" to the far right retorts that "God is not happy with this law... it kills babies and old people."  What it really boils down to is much more humanly fundamental than the grandiose ballyhoos.  The U.S. Constitution was set up to ensure our safety and prosperity and to protect our freedoms (those would be unalienable rights in the Declaration).  It seems that this is a good point to get THIS off my chest:  regardless of how noble the goal of universal healthcare may or may not be, any service provided to you by someone else it is not a RIGHT.  Just like you don't have a "right" to have a car provided for you but you do have a right to own personal property, including a car.  Words have profound meaning, folks.  Now that's out of the way. 

The Real Motivations Behind the Healthcare Act

Hunger, shelter, sex, warmth, acceptance, gratification, security, power, stimulation.  These are some of many human motivations and some are more basic than others.  What we are dealing with in the Healthcare Act are very basic. 

• Greed and security.  First, on the part of the people who want to be given something that someone else has.  Either poor, ignorant or ideological people who want the government to better them at the expense of others.  Basically, this is greed by proxy.  In other words, letting the government do your dirty work.  Let me take this time to say that there are legitimately poor people who really need help taking care of life's necessities and dealing with the huge expenses of medical catastrophes.  We cannot pretend these facts do not exist but we must also admit that our government may or may not have the best solution, if one is to be had at all.
• Greed and selfishness.  Let us also be honest enough to admit that there are those with wealth (and even those without) who are in a position to help other but chose not to out of greed.  Maybe this cohort comprises the majority of the American population at this point.  Most Americans claim to be religious and Christian at that.  What happened to "faith, hope and charity but the greatest of these is charity?"
• Power and security.  Second, on the part of those who wanted to pass the Act in order to garner favor with the voting populace in order to get re-elected and stay in power.  This is exceptionally common and the primary motivation of the career politician. This is my primary reason for supporting term limits.  Go to Washington, do good for your country, go home an get back to work. 
• Fear and security.  The third subset is the group that oppose the legislation because it is a perceived threat to the real income of every American.  Some realize that their total costs will increase and their disposable income will decline as a result of this new "tax," not to mention the fact that insurance companies are forced to raise rates to offset new mandates in the legislation.  Additionally, there is a greater fear that is still fundamental to mankind, and that fear is that things will be changing.  The uncertainty of the extent of the economic impact is a legitimate fear, but the fear of the unknown is often exaggerated in the human psyche.  However, basic economic principles tell us that when people have less disposable income they spend less, and when business have higher expenses (like health insurance) they hire less.  That is a pretty basic (and much ignored) impact from this legislation and others like it.  So the fear of a sinking economy burdened by the Act is not unfounded.  

There are other motivations, such as hatred, jealousy, or vindication, but these are the basics.  It's that simple. 

Chasing A Darwinian Rabbit

The last point begs the question, if most of us are worse off and less profitable in the end, how will we continue to pay for rising healthcare costs in an increasing population?  To chase a rabbit trail, if we look at this from a purely humanistic standpoint (which is the far left mindset) isn't it better that most of us are better off with a few who suffer from a lack of affordable healthcare (assuming this is actually true) than making most of us worse off (which is also an assumption but supportable) while improving the lives of the proportionate few?  If the humanistic leftist is intellectually honest, why not let the law of the survival of the fittest take its course by not providing healthcare to those who cannot provide it for themselves?  Of course, this is a cold and harsh view of the world and not one that most humanists freely espouse, but I think consistent.  From an economics standpoint, the Act violates the concept of Pareto Optimality whereby some can be made better off while simultaneously making no one else worse off. 

That is not to say that the religious right is correct in it's cry that charity is the sole resolution to the ills of poverty and personal catastrophe.  To be quite honest, this view ignores the fact that most Americans are not willing to go out and look for people who need financial help and then cut them a check.  Partially this is out of greed.  Partially because there is a general understanding that frauds abound who don't really need the money and even if they do the money is spent on beer and cigarettes instead of the rent.  The later problem is just exacerbated when the government gives handouts where the results cannot be policed.  The greater problem is that Americans are increasingly void of integrity, which means fewer people are charitable and fewer people put the money to good use.  Maybe the answer is that there is not a feasible or sustainable solution to the healthcare "problem."  Maybe we just need to admit that suffering is part of the human experience and that we each are subject to it.

God, Country and Peace

I say all of that to say this.  "Let not your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in [Jesus]."  A phrase hijacked... uh, used by Sean Hannity, is so very true in the face of something that could make quite a few people depressed.  First, let's be honest: this is really a symptom of a rich country.  We are so rich that many have come to believe healthcare is a "right" in the same way life is characterized as a right by our founding fathers.  So we are exceptionally BLESSED.  You will start off on the wrong foot in thinking about all of this if you do not first recognize and internalize this.  You will also come to peace with the whole thing much faster when you internalize that while you have a say in our representative democracy, ultimately God is in control.  Trust in Him. 

And that brings me to my last point.  I sent a text to a friend this morning who keeps up with sports more than current events.  His reply to my announcement on the ruling of the Supreme Court was something to the effect that maybe someone will do something about this "with God's help."  And then the text argument began. 

But in all seriousness, if you one thing today, let it be this:  God cares for each and every soul on this earth but whether or not every person in the USA has healthcare coverage is not on His priority list.  His ways are higher than our ways.  God desires that we obey Him.  Our job is to live our lives in respect and love for God.  I just don't see where health insurance factors into God's plan for our lives.  If God has allowed horrible and tyrannical governments to persist throughout the ages, what difference does a healthcare act matter to Him?  It is not that He does not care because we know He does.  He also calls us to cast our cares upon Him and then go on living our lives.  God uses government to accomplish His will and His will is that we obey Him, not that we do or do not have healthcare. 

Let us continue to strive to better our lives, while at the same time making God our first priority.  Then we can be at peace.